96_12V

This has to be one thankful individual right now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...ixnewstop.html

I can't say that I would have reacted differently given this series of events, however taking a performance-driving course would have been a real help to this individual. Also, has anyone else been instructed to jam your foot straight down on a stuck accelerator pedal to release it?

roadranger

He couldn't pull it into neutral because it may overrev the engine??
He couldn't shut off the ignition because he would loose the power steering??
But, it's perfectly OK to be speeding along at 130 mph, dodging other cars/trucks and talking to police dispatch on a cell phone at the same time.

It's brain dead idiots like this who shouldn't be driving at all...
Too bad Darwin didn't remove him!

t-15 firefighter

I was thinking the exact same thing

Britt

96_12V

The longer I have thought about this since first reading the article, the more I relaize how mind-dead he really was. He claims the "Power steering" would have died if he has s/d the ignition. Huh? I drove a Ford truck with no power steering for years during high school and college. The only time you really even notice was low-speed parking. His "power assited" brakes were already toast.

This does being to mind another question - what if your vechile had a keyless "push-button" start? What other ways could you turn off a car like that?

Guess it's also just one more reason why I really prefer to drive a manual - but the truth is, you always have options for getting out of such a situation (at least with traditional key-ignition systems) - you just may have to think beyond the obvious.

dssimecek

Lucky guy. but I think it would have been better to shift into neutral, even if the engine blew, have P/S to coast to the shoulder and shut down the engine, if it didn'd self distruct. Easy to say, sitting here being on DTR and eatting bon-bons.

Lrdchaos

I like the fact that he was yelling at the other cars to get out of the way.....

Begle1

It says that it wouldn't shift into neutral because the engine was overreving.

Probably a fancy-schmancy European-computer issue. 727's sure don't have that issue. Heck, they shift into reverse when you're redlining the engine.


I don't know how hard it is to steer a BMW without power steering. I think that the BMW's only 2 turns from lock to lock, but come on, it weighs 3,000 pounds? He looked like a big guy, it shouldn't be too hard.


Now I think I'm going to use that as an excuse the next time I get caught for speeding. Have the cops chase me through three states and then run out of gas: "Oh, sorry, accelerator was stuck".

Wonder if it'd work?

Sidewinder

If he was doing 100+ the road must have been pretty straight - power steering wouldn't be my biggest concern when going straight.

Fronty Owner

kill it and stand on the brakes... sure, without power brakes your going to have to stand on it. heck, just pull the parking brake.

Mexstan

I read this when it first hit the news and also thought how stupid he was. Over the years I have taught many folks to drive and one of the things I do is to find a deserted section of road, get them to drive at 40-50 mph and then turn the engine off (but not in the park position) and make them stop the vehicle. Also get them to make a few turns with the engine off. Of course, even after warning them about the stiff steering and hard brakes, some of them almost go into panic mode, but then quickly realize that the vehicle is still controlable.
Another thing I teach drivers that have a standard tranni is how to downshift and bring the vehicle to a complete stop without touching the brake pedal. It's fun on a small downhill.
The dummy driver in the news obviously never had any experience with emergency conditions.

runamuk

Fuel for thought

Driving a severely over fueled diesel (in the case of a runaway) could produce similar results!

Unfortunately killing the ignition would not do anything to prevent it.

If the automatic transmission would not shift out of gear..................I think I'll consider a 6 spd next time.

Rick

Mopardan

[QUOTE] He couldn't pull it into neutral because it may overrev the engine??

Aren't most of the cars made to defuel before overreving? I know my 2000 Ram gasser did! (OK, I was stuck and mad in 4 low)

Timmay2

Controllable? Some cars yah.. How about trying to steer ad stop one of these trucks? geesh.. When my truck died from teh VP44 going 35mph it was a PAIN to try to get it to the side of the road.. I thought i was stopping before an interesection too and ended up going 200 feet past it!!

Hope this truck never stalls when going a decent speed.. talk about a bad day... for whoever it hits!

Mexstan

You may have missed the point I was trying to make, which is, if emergency training is given, then in an emergency situation there are some things that can be attemted to rectify said problem - intead of panicking and losing all control.